A New Lease on Life
So, Tower Hamlets has a new Town Hall. And where better to put it than the old Royal London Hospital, a place that’s been patched up and put back together more times than Lenny McLean (you may have to look him up, try under ’The Guv’nor). Built in 1757, designed by Boulton Mainwaring (great name), it started life as a Georgian beauty, then spent centuries getting knocked about, a gradual ad-hoc accumulation of the haphazard and unplanned, an unsightly collection of carbuncles. But now, with the aid of some expert AHMM surgery, it’s back in business; restored, repaired, nipped and tucked. Functioning better than ever.
The restoration is impressive. The old neoclassical façade has been spruced up, the Arts and Crafts-era details lovingly retained. But it’s not all nostalgia, there’s a slick new extension at the back with six floors of open-plan office space for 2,470 council staff. Modern, bright, efficient. The ground floor is where the real action is, though; a public hub with a council chamber (it has a glass wall, you get to see your councillors, councilling), there are meeting rooms, and a café where you can, theoretically, get a decent coffee while sorting out your council tax.
Of course, it wasn’t easy. There’s an air ambulance flight path overhead, an Underground tunnel or two underneath, and two hospitals next door, so not exactly a peaceful construction site. And there’s all that history to consider, it was once the home to Joseph Merrick, “The Elephant Man,” and where Edith Cavell trained and worked. By reputation here they pioneered the first heart surgery. But AHMM have managed it brilliantly. And they did it sustainably too. Solar panels, a rainwater harvesting system, a brown roof to keep the local wildlife happy, it’s all there, earning the building a BREEAM Excellent rating.
It’s also part of the Whitechapel Vision, which sounds like a sci-fi movie you go to watch at the Genesis cinema, but is actually one of London’s biggest regeneration projects. New public spaces, thousands of homes, and an excellent new transport hub (just across the road). It’s not just a Town Hall; it’s an investment in a community, it heals, integrates, focusses hearts and minds and lifts the spirits. Like a hospital for local government, and I think we all need a bit of that.
